Lecavalier to return against Columbus

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Something seemed up earlier Saturday when Flyers winger Steve Downie stayed on the practice ice at Nationwide Arena doing skating drills with assistant coach Ian Laperriere long after other players had departed for the locker room.

It was almost like a test instead of a punishment, a matter that was cleared up later when it announced Downie would miss 7-10 days with what’s being called an upper body injury. Downie had been hit hard with an elbow to the jaw in a recent game against Montreal, but played through three games since to no apparent ill effects.

Yet he is believed to have been checked out by Flyers medical officials after Tuesday’s home win against Washington. Downie missed four games with a concussion in early November, just after being acquired from Colorado.

The Flyers then announced that Vinny Lecavalier would be a surprise addition to the lineup, returning from a serious injury absence ... and doing so about a week earlier than they had hoped for.

Advertisement

Originally injured Nov. 30 and diagnosed about a week later with a non-displaced fracture in his lower back, Lecavalier skated Thursday and Friday and finally was cleared to participate in a full practice with his teammates Saturday morning at Nationwide Arena. Now with Downie out, Lecavalier is hopping in.

“I felt a lot better yesterday and today was good, too,” Lecavalier said. “I would say four or five days ago, it was still (painful). These last three days have been really good.”

Lecavalier acknowledged his recovery has gone quicker than he anticipated it would. It isn’t known where he’ll be inserted, but starting a good guess is back at his second line spot at center, with either Scott Hartnell or Brayden Schenn filling in for Downie on the third line.

***

Jake Voracek said after the morning skate that he was looking forward to playing in Columbus, his first game there since being traded to the Flyers in June of 2011.

“It’s a lot of memories,” Voracek said. “Three years there, I played 240 games or something like that. So it’s going to be exciting for me tonight. I’m not going to lie, when the schedule came out I was looking forward to the day when we were going to play in Columbus because it’s been too long.”

***

Ray Emery will start in goal over Steve Mason, who was a rookie along with Voracek in Columbus the year coach Ken Hitchcock took them to the playoffs in 2008-09. Mason hadn’t been back here since he was traded to the Flyers last spring, but Craig Berube said he liked the idea of starting Mason Thursday night at home against the Blue Jackets instead of playing under a little more pressure here at Nationwide Center.